Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Where Did You See NASCAR Drivers On TV This Week?

Apparently, the NASCAR "media tour" of NYC this week has been very busy on a lot of entertainment and news TV programs.

Readers have been sending email about lots of appearances, and I certainly need help when it comes to those types of shows. So, here is it...your opportunity to help us get a handle on the who and where and when this week in NYC.

Please post your description of what TV program you saw a NASCAR driver, owner, crew chief or whoever on this week in NYC. That will help us put together a rough survey of how the NYC media crowd treated the sport. and if the appearances helped or dented the NASCAR exposure level.

To add your comment, simply click on the COMMENT button below, and then follow the simple instructions. Please read the rules for posting on the right side of the main page and then add your opinion about "Champions Week" in NYC right here on The Daly Planet.

29 comments:

Upcoming: Jimmie Johnson is supposed to be on the Rachael Ray show Friday. She's the food Network chef who has her own syndicated talk show. He was also on Regis and Kelly earlier but I missed it.

I'm the anonymous who wrote about Good Morning America this morning. I think it's just unfortunate timing for the NASCAR drivers that their big Wednesday media tour falls the day after the Dancing with the Stars finale, because all of the focus on GMA was on IRL driver Helio Castroneves, who won the competition.

He was interviewed several times and danced on set with his partner as well. (There was a brief nice moment when Helio finished dancing and he jumped over to put his arm around Kyle Busch, who was watching in his firesuit with Diane Sawyer, I didn't see any of the other drivers.)

This Helio focus left no time for the NASCAR drivers, even though NASCAR is also an ABC property in a way. In the past, they were each introduced and there was a little chit-chat in two or three segments over an hour, then they got into their cars. This time there was only one segment and only Jimmie Johnson was introduced, which seemed a little insulting IMO.

First Take on ESPN has also had a segment on Helio but no NASCAR drivers or clips from their drive, though the host mentioned that Jimmie and Carl Edwards should do the DWTS show. In comparison, last year they interviewed drivers live from the media tour.

There may be more driver appearances (other than Jimmie) on shows today and tomorrow because all 10 were available to the media for two hours after their drive. Unless, of course, everybody is off interviewing Helio. ;)

Jimmie Johnson was on Jim Rome yesterday. The Jim Rome interview was extensive, but also rather boring.

That's one problem with Jimmie Johnson, he can be kind of bland. Whereas Helio just jumps off the screen, he has so much personality. It was an interesting contrast this morning; that's why I said NASCAR PR probably wishes they had Helio (for the record he said he's not interested.)

I watched the Castroneves segment as well. I then watched the next two segments, the lighting of the Christmas tree in Idaho and a followup on sextuplets (six multiple born babies) who are now 14 years old. I then turned from that program and did not return, I therefore missed the NASCAR drivers.

Judging by the other comment left here so far, the tour began just before 9 a.m., leaving only a few minutes for any interviews. GMA leaves the air at 9.

Helio Castroneves is also on "The View" tomorrow. You'd think the NASCAR guys would rate an appearance - that's an ABC show - but maybe not.

The Cup Banquet host is Dr. Jerry Punch. Jay Mohr has been replaced by David Spade - does he know anything about NASCAR? I'll be awaiting the reaction to his "jokes".

Singer is Kelly Clarkson.

ESPN is airing a show about the Myers Brothers luncheon this year, I don't think they've done that before, usually that's on Speed Channel. It's at 8:30 PM on ESPN Classic Friday right before the banquet.

I agree with anon 1.13. Helio was a great interview. He is so full of life, even if you did not have a clue who he was, he invites you to have fun with him. And I don't even follow "Dancing"

On the Jimmie interview with Rome, was not good. And I blame it on Jimmie. He seems like a tough person to interview. He gives very pat answers. Nothing he's asked brings out his personality, 'cause he keeps it hidden. Even though Jeff has not been a champ in many years, when he's on SNL or Regis, he is funny. That's why Jeff's been invited many times and even been a substitute host for Regis.

I was starting to think that I had the wrong day for GMA. They weren't mentioning that the NASCAR guys were there and coming up, just kept showing Helio and the dancers in the green room. Then when Helio came out and Jeff and Jimmie were in the crowd in their firesuits and Helio stopped to talk to them, I realized they were there.

The measly segment they were given was a disappointment. Last year they did a fun, enjoyable segment - talking with the drivers and learning how to get in and out of the cars. This year we get a Jimmie interview with the other guys standing in the background - no real introductions other than reading their names out. I was a bit disappointed.

I agree that Jimmie is very bland and can be boring in his interviews. But today they had ten drivers there that they could have had some fun with. The only amusing thing was seeing Kyle Busch show up - unexpectedly it seemed - and cheer for Helio while he was dancing.

I don't watch the View, and not sure it has many viewers, but having said that, why would they want Jimmie? He's just a bump on the log. I love NASCAR, but most of the drivers just seem to know how to spout out the names of their sponsors quickly, and not much else.

I understand that "Dancing" is as popular as American Idol, so having Helio has nothing to do with IRL, I mean it could have been Mel B.

The View is pretty popular, though I don't like it very much and hardly watch it. I would think it gets as many viewers as Regis and Kelly.

Jimmie Johnson would also normally be on David Letterman this week - he always has the champion on - but there is a writer's strike and the show is in reruns.

Similar to Letterman, maybe the View would invite Jimmie Johnson on because he's the champion for the year? I think those shows usually just have whoever is the champion regardless of personality. I've seen the Indy 500 and Daytona 500 and series champions on those morning and evening talk shows regardless of who they are.

I guess this can be counted as a NASCAR appearance - Roger Penske, Sam Hornish, and the president of Penske Racing were on Dancing with the Stars (on video) last night to say nice things about Helio Castroneves. I don't know if it's good or bad thing, but more people probably saw them in those few seconds than total viewers for the NASCAR driver NYC appearances this week.

Ok...Helio was on the VIEW TODAY..wednesday morning because I saw him with my two eyes.

I watched DWTS (well partly) and hoped he would win. He was amazing on that show and always smiling yet nervous each week. He has MASS APPEAL.

And as somebody who watches IRL I was THRILLED Helio had enough fans to win the show. I read the other night he carried MANY STATES over the other finalists. Marie Osmond has a huge following due to her charity links and doll company so for the Brazilian IRL to top her was HUGE.

Sorry, just wanted to be able to speak about Helio. I sat thru the two hours of that show last night and they did NOT announce the winner until 10.56, I would've loved to have seen Helio talk more as he was over the top excited and then flying around the country to do shows, I s'pose.

I thought Kelly and Regis were in the BAHAMAS this week so how could NASCAR be on their show?? They are usually in NYC

JD- Helio was on MIKE & MIKE this AM (during 4th hour I believe) with Golic and (coincidence) Erik the K filling in for Greenie. Good segment. I don't recall they're talking about anything other than his dancing - although there was a mention of his fence climbing. I have not seen any NASCAR people on M & M this week, but I have not watched more than 30 or 40 minutes any day.

John, Helio has mentioned that after he wins an IndyCar Championship, he would consider going to NASCAR. And yes, this morning on GMA, when Helio was introduced, he walked down a red carpet in the studio lined with fans and Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon. They surpised Helio by blending in with the crowd, but he saw them, jumped on Jimmie and gave Jeff a handshake. It was a very cool moment, because these three are obviously friends.

As for appearances, Jimmie did appear yesterday on the local CW affiliate's morning news show here in NY.

on GMA I saw Helio finish his dance by sort of doing a "swan dive" over to Kyle Busch, who was laughing and clapping.; I missed the part with Jeff Gordon or Jimmie Johnson anon@2:24 saw. It was probably on a bit before I tuned in. David Newton (espn.com) says in his story the GMA people tried to get Jimmie on the set or stage to let Helio teach him how to dance, but he said no. But it says Jimmie was chest-bumping Helio, he just didn't want to be on camera dancing, sounds like. His story is what's being commented about here, that NASCAR drivers need to show more personality like Helio.

When SPEED does their Champions Weeks show, they sometimes show a lot of fun things like GMA or other things the champion does. Not so much last year, but the year before they followed Tony Stewart everywhere, about six different events. It was really cool to watch him go to a photo shoot in Central Park and see how many people who were just hanging out in the park recognized Tony and were excited to see him.

It may be a staffing thing, back then they had NASCAR Nation staff and they were the ones who followed Tony all week. Last year they didn't follow Jimmie as much. They have their champion show Friday, so we'll see.

Helio said many times the most supportive people in racing while he was on Dancing with the Stars were Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, and Mark Martin, whom he knows from IROC. They were the ones who called and text-messaged him. It probably made him pretty happy to see Jimmie and Jeff on Good Morning America today.

I've seen conflicting comments about Helio and NASCAR. At first it was a flat no (he really wants an open wheel merger), but as Matt says, he's starting to say "never say never". It wouldn't surprise me if he's been getting calls from NASCAR owners or GMs. He'd be a sponsor's dream right now. The IRL is probably going to do whatever it can to keep him for the next couple of years. There's a lot of Dancing with the Stars fans who are interested in seeing Helio race in person now and already buying race tickets for next season.

I finally watched GMA (TIVO'ed). I was disapointed at the coverage to say the very least. Thirty seconds is not OK. Flashing through the other drivers standing on the street is not OK. Just one more time for ESPN/ABC to slap the NASCAR fans in the face. Guess no one really cares and they think we are a group of idiots that will take whatever dreges are left over. Not so. Beware NASCAR, we are going to take just so much.

Jimmy Johnson rang the closing bell at the NYSE Monday and CNN's Wall Street correspondent interviewed him live from the Exchange floor. It was actually an interesting interview because it went into the economics of NASCAR. She asked Jimmy how the economic downturn, namely the mortgage crisis has affected the sport in everything from fans having less disposable income to attend races to sponsors having to reexamine their sponsorship budgets. She drew a connection of the housing slowdown to Lowes in particular. It was an interesting few minutes.

I too finally saw GMA. I was surprised this morning when they were teasing the show and there was no mention of the NASCAR drivers being there. They teased the same stories before the opening and after the opening (but before the news). I was hoping that there would be more interaction with the drivers than there was.

I found a few of yesterday appearances on YouTube. The Wall Street Journal Digital Network interviewed Jimmie Johnson.

They asked him about the lower TV ratings, and if he would be interested in the lifetime contract with Hendrick -he said yes. They asked him where he invests his money - he said he wanted to diversify in real estate and his Southern California auto dealerships.

Jimmie had good answers, but I'm wondering why journalists are asking him financial questions -he's a driver with a high school education, geez, not a financial wizard. I don't even want to imagine how the CNN interview mentioned above went.

Jimmie may be boring, but I have to compliment him. I can't see Tony Stewart or Clint Bowyer or some other drivers attempting to answer some of these questions. Tony would probably ask them if they were sure they weren't supposed to be interviewing the Home Depot CEO instead of him.

Something called PressPassTv has a eight minute video of Jimmie at the Stock Exchange ceremony. I've never heard of PressPassTv, but it was a compilation of a lot of footage with Jimmie, Chandra, Chad Knaus talking to people, at the Stock Exchange.

Last night I watched the ABC Good Morning America show, which I had thankfully taped, to see the Drivers and their drive through New York City. I was so shocked at what I saw, I rewound it and watched again. From the start of the actual coverage when the announcer talked about stuffing his carcass into the car, to the on-air personality saying "Gentlemen, start your engines," to the other on air personality waving the green flag immediately (obviously oblivious to the fact that you had to start the car before you could pull away) - total air time 1 minute and 16 seconds. Sheesh!! Sure glad I had taped the prorgram and didn't have to suffer through the full two hours.

A friend at work showed me online "red carpet" photos of the Chase drivers and wives/girlfriends from a party last night at Tiffany Jewelry.

If the red carpet makes TV tonight it'd likely only be NYC local entertainment news, unless the national entertainment news shows (such as Entertainment Tonight) quickly mention the party because two of the female stars from the TV series "Heroes" showed up.

I checked and the party was mentioned specifically in several blogs today because those actresses were there, along the lines of "Heroes Hotties Glam Up Nextel Cup NASCAR Event." They were not photographed with the drivers, just by themselves, so I assume they were invited to get the party more publicity.

One thing I noticed from the photos, the photographers take a lot more pictures of Jeff Gordon and his wife than they do of Jimmie Johnson and his wife. Maybe those two are more famous in New York City.

Supposedly there is another party at a club with a "red carpet" tonight. Last year celebrities attended it too, but I cannot remember if they showed clips from these events before the banquet show or not.

That NASCAR Tiffany party was on E News Daily on E Entertainment channel. They showed Jimmie and Chandra Johnson very briefly (but no interview) and interviewed the two Heroes ladies, one who talked about not being able to drive 'a NASCAR'.

They interviewed Jeff Gordon with Ingrid. Jeff told the interviewer he was just out with his wife and he wasn't the champion and finished second - like hint,hint go interview Jimmie Johnson the winner, but the interviewer didn't.

Entertainment Tonight was all Helio Castroneves and his love life, for almost half the show. For real!